Innovative Approach to Recycle Lithium‐Ion Battery Electrolytes via Sequential Chemical Processes

Abstract The rapid growth of electric vehicles (EV) has driven the widespread use of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). This will result in a large amount of spent batteries that if not properly disposed will pose significant environmental damage, especially from the electrolyte. The electrolyte contains lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF 6 ), which when treated by either incineration or water washing can generate harmful F‐ and P‐containing substances such as hydrofluoric acid (HF). In this study, an innovative two‐step process is presented to separate and purify both the solvents and lithium salts from the spent electrolyte. Antisolvent assisted precipitation is used to selectively isolate LiPF 6 salt in the form of a complex with ethylene carbonate. Subsequent distillation then separates the volatile electrolyte solvents and antisolvent from each other effectively. In addition, a new process to further purify LiPF 6 from its ethylene carbonate (EC) complex is also presented. This electrolyte recycling method not only enables the recovery of the high‐value LiPF 6 salt and the electrolyte solvents, but also paves the way for environmentally responsible and circular LIB recycling.